MADISON, Wisc. – Boosted by under par rounds from Virginia Elena Carta and Ana Belac, the top-seeded Duke women’s golf team turned in a five-under, 283, and is second overall through 18 holes at the NCAA Madison Regional. The Blue Devils carded 19 birdies on the day at the 6,313-yard, par 72 University Ridge Golf Course in Madison, Wisc.

Virginia turned in a nine-under-par, 279, in the opening round to take a four stroke lead over the Blue Devils (283). Southern California (285), Arizona State (288), Oregon State (289), Wisconsin (290), Illinois (292), Ohio State (293), Northwestern (294), Old Dominion (295) and Ohio State (295) rounded out the top 10 teams. Following 54 holes of play, the top six teams will advance to the NCAA Championship in Stillwater, Okla.

“It is comforting, but we can’t rest,” said Duke head coach Dan Brooks. “This tournament is something…you just have to keep fighting hard. If you relax, teams will come here and play the best golf they have played all spring. You can see that going on. We talked about it and knew it was going to happen.”

Seeing action in only her third tournament of the spring, Carta matched a season best with six birdies and a four-under, 68, Monday. She led the field a few different occasions when she went to three-under-par and four-under-par. A native of Udine, Italy, Carta trails Wisconsin’s Gabby Curtis (67) and Beth Lillie of Virginia (67), while being tied with Oregon State’s Nicole Schroeder (68).

“I think my long game was pretty good, pretty consistent,” commented Carta. “It is definitely the best part of my game usually. Today was pretty good. I also rolled in some putts and that helped with the result.”

Carta had the best start for the day with three birdies over her first seven holes to move to three-under. She two-putted for birdie on the par five second hole, drained a 33-foot birdie on No. 6 and then stuck her approach on No. 7 to a foot and sank the birdie. Carta had her first bogey on the eighth hole and then sank her fourth birdie on the 504-yard, par five 11th to get back to three-under. After coming up short on her tee shot on the par three 12th, she notched a bogey to fall back to two-under. Carta registered back-to-back birdies on No. 15 and No. 16 on her way to collecting a 68. She hit a team-best 16 greens, eight fairways and rolled 30 putts on the day.

Turning in her third under par round out of four in NCAA Regional play, Belac carded a two-under, 70, in round one. A product of Portoroz, Slovenia, Belac held a two-under ledger through 11 holes with a 25-foot birdie on No. 4 and an eight-footer for birdie on No. 8. She suffered her first bogey of the day on No. 12 as went into the greenside bunker off the tee and wasn’t able to get up-and-down. Belac came back to birdie No. 13 and No. 15 to get to three-under. She got into trouble off the tee on No. 18 and finished the round with a bogey to finish with a 70. Belac hit 14 greens, 11 fairways and had 30 putts.

Freshman Jaravee Boonchant opened her day with bogeys on No. 1 and No. 3 and held a two-over score through 13 holes. She connected on her first birdie of the afternoon on the 358-yard, par four 14th as she drained a 27-foot putt. Boonchant, who hails from Bangkok, Thailand, added another birdie on No. 16 to get back to even par. She lipped out for birdie on No. 18 and finished with an even-par, 72, and is tied 19th. Boonchant hit 11 greens, 10 fairways and a team-best 29 putts. The even par score was her fourth straight of even or under par.

With a season-best four birdies, senior Lisa Maguire signed for a one-over, 73. She opened with bogeys on No. 1, No. 4 and No. 6, but regrouped and played her final 12 holes at two-under-par. A native of Cavan, Ireland, Maguire rolled in her first birdie of the day on No. 9 from 12 feet to make the turn with a 38. She added a bogey on No. 10 and four-foot birdie on No. 11. Maguire sandwiched a bogey in-between two pars on holes 12-14, before registering back-to-back birdies on No. 15 and No. 16. She sank a four-foot birdie on the 15th and drained a 25-foot birdie putt on the 16th to move her score to one-over-par. Maguire drilled 7-of-9 greens on the back nine. For the day, she hit 11 greens, four fairways and had 30 putts.

Senior Leona Maguire turned in a two-over, 74, in round one as she collected three birdies. Maguire, a two-time National Player of the Year from Cavan, Ireland, birdied three of the five par fives on the day and lipped out for birdie on No. 18. The round of 74 did not count for the Blue Devils, which snapped a streak of 115 counting rounds by the former No. 1 ranked amateur in the world.

Duke will tee off Tuesday in the second round beginning at 9:39 a.m., along with Virginia and Southern California.

“We are happy with it,” commented Brooks on the good start. “There are opportunities out there. It is a really good golf course and it also has opportunities. You can get some birdies going. We didn’t have anything higher than a bogey. The rough isn’t extremely penal. I expected not a whole lot of really high numbers. There is no out of bounds here on the course, but it is also a very challenging course. I knew it wouldn’t be crazy low. It is about where I expected.”